“I just started writing songs in the beginning of last year,” says Marcus. “I went to see a gig when I was at university in Edinburgh. It was Charlie [Fink] from Noah and the Whale, a guy called King Charles, and Winston was playing with a band called Captain Kick and The Cowboy Ramblers. I was really getting into bluegrass at the time, and when I saw those guys, I got really inspired and started writing.”

After relocating to London, Marcus hooked up with the rest of the band members while they were all playing with various singer/songwriters at a folk venue on Kings Road called Bosun’s Locker. “When we started, we just rehearsed on the curb outside the venue or at the soundcheck on stage,” laughs Marcus. “We never really had established parts. I just had a song and everyone kind of played along. Like a hoedown. It all came out of playing live that we even formed the band, because I was playing songs in London and various guys would just come and sit in—like the fiddler from Noah and the Whale would come and play one night, then Charlie [Fink] would play with me sometimes, and Laura [Marling] would sing. Eventually, Ted, Ben, and Winston stuck. It wasn’t until we started writing songs together that we realized this was an actual band and not just a singer/songwriter with a couple of mates.”